Before Haiti and international donors can rebuild this devastated city, they must first destroy it. ¶ The task of knocking down, smashing apart and hauling away the mountain range of rubble left by the Jan. 12 earthquake will take years and cost as much as $1 billion, according to some estimates. ¶ "I have heard the president say that based on what the engineers tell him, it will take 1,000 dump trucks working for 1,000 days to clear away the debris, and I am not sure even the experts know how big is the pile," said Leslie Voltaire, an architect and diplomat who is leading the effort to plan Haiti's reconstruction. ¶ U.N. rapid assessment teams estimate there's 30 million to 78 million cubic yards of broken blocks, twisted metal and pulverized concrete -- enough to fill the Louisiana Superdome, from playing field to roof, up to 17 times. ¶ "How long did it take to remove the Twin Towers after 9/11? It took them two years, and that was in New York City, and it cost a lot of money. We are Port-au-Prince, and our government doesn't have any money," said Philippe Cineas, director general of a construction company that has cleared rubble from five sites, including a bank "where we had to work very slowly, very carefully, because they were looking for the vault."
about the writer
In interviews with the Star Tribune, Ryan described life before and after the Russian invasion in the country, where she’s worked to secure the border and help refugees flee war-torn areas.
